Neurological disorders due to demyelinating disease (e.g. multiple sclerosis), immune disease, inflammation, trauma, or compression, occur in different clinical forms depending upon the anatomic site and the cause and natural history of the physiological problem. Common to all of these disorders is the fact that they can cause permanent neurological damage, that damage can occur rapidly and be irreversible, and that current treatment of these conditions is unsatisfactory, often requiring surgery and/or the use of pharmacologic agents, which are often not completely successful.
These neurological conditions include acute spinal cord trauma, spinal cord compression, spinal cord hematoma, cord contusion (these cases are usually traumatic, such as motorcycle accidents or sports injuries); nerve compression, the most common condition being a herniated disc causing sciatic nerve compression, neuropathy, and pain; but also including cervical disc herniation, causing nerve compression in the neck; carnal tunnel syndrome (non-RA); acute or chronic spinal cord compression from cancer (this is usually due to metastases to the spine, such as from prostate, breast or lung cancer); autoimmune disease of the nervous system; and demyelinating diseases, the most common condition being multiple sclerosis.
Steroid drugs such as cortisone that are used to treat the aforementioned neurological problems and conditions are particularly hazardous because they are used either at high dosage, with a corresponding increasing risk of side effects, or because they are used chronically, also increasing their adverse effects. Lastly, steroids are only partially effective or completely ineffective.
There remains a need for a new pharmacologic treatment of these aforementioned physiological problems of the nervous system associated with autoimmune disease, demyelinating diseases, trauma, injuries and compression with the pharmacological use of TNF antagonists or TNF blockers, which are greatly beneficial for the large number of patients whom these conditions affect. Two new drugs which are powerful TNF blockers are etanercept and infliximab. Etanercept or infliximab may be used for the immediate, short term and long term (acute and chronic) blockade of TNF in order to minimize neurologic damage mediated by TNF dependent processes occurring in the aforementioned neurological disorders. The use of these TNF antagonists or TNF blockers would result in the amelioration of these physiological neurological problems. Concurrent administration of methotrexate or Leflunomide with either etanercept or infliximab is the preferred treatment for demyelinating diseases and certain other neurological disorders.